==== Getting Ready
The first thing I noticed was how cold I was. Seriously, I was freezing. A moment later, I felt something prod my side, as if it was trying to wake me up. I heard a voice. Was that Jeremy?
"Oh God, Jacob, don't be dead. Wake up, wake up!"
I groggily moved my hands to try to lift myself, and barely managed. Holy crap, I was really cold.
"Oh, good." He sounded vastly relieved. "Hurry up! Get inside, you're turning purple for crying out loud!"
I managed to comply and dragged myself inside, closing the glass door behind me. I started to remember what happened. Was I in the Medium?
I looked over at the computer. Oh yeah, Jeremy must have connected back to it and was chatting with me again. I wondered how long I was out.
A glowing org floated over to me. It looked like the orb I had thrown into the weird other orb thing earlier, except it was actually glowing pretty brightly.
"When that gear thing shattered, my screen suddenly went black, and the bubble in the orb split in two! One going up, the other down. That thing was left behind."
The orb loomed closer to me, and I could actually feel warmth radiating off of it. I instantly snuggled up close to it. It felt wonderful.
Soon, I was laying on the couch in a blanket, curled up against my glowy heat orb thing. I was so glad I had it to help me. In fact, I was just about all warmed up when Jeremy began talking through the speakers once more.
"Uhh, Jacob? Sorry to interrupt your warming up, but I think there is something you need to check out. Like, now."
I felt much better, to be honest. That orb really knew how to do the trick!
I got off the couch, still wrapped in my brown blanket, and went over to the computer.
"What is it?" I asked.
I heard Jeremy shift before he answered. "I think you need a weapon. There are some weird impish looking glowing monsters around your house, walking around. I think they're trying to find a way in."
"Oh, crap." I said. That's right. With a game, comes enemies. I guessed this was just something I was going to have to deal with, then.
I decided that my best bet would probably be to get a few sharp knives to use that had paper sheathes. Yeah, they were kitchen knives, but they were my best bet. Also, I decided to pick up my throwing star I had in my room for good measure.
I might as well bundle up for the horridly cold weather out there, so I went to my room and got my Jacket with the fake fur inside, wrapped my purple plaid scarf around my neck, and put on my cap. I zipped up my coat and went back to the kitchen/dining room/living room, and put the knives and throwing star on my person. I was ready to go.
"Hey, are you going out to fight those things?" Jeremy asked.
"In a second maybe. I just wanted to get ready."
"Alright. There are a ton of them out there, you should be careful."
"I'm going to call people first. I think the most important thing right now is to get you in here before a meteor kills you. I'm going to use the phone."
"Alright." He said.
I walked over to the phone and picked it up, immediately dialing Acadia's number. The phone rang for a little while, but thankfully, after a few attempts, she finally picked it up.
"Hello?" Acadia's voice groggily answered the phone.
"Acadia. You need to enter. Now."
"What time is it?" She asked. Dang it, there wasn't time for this!
"I think the sun is just rising over there. There was a change of plans. You need to connect to Austen, get him in the Medium, and then get in yourself."
"The Medium?" She asked. Dang it! That's right, she didn't know much about the game. At least I read some of the crappy Attempt-at-Walkthroughs!
"The game SBURB we were all planning on playing? You really, really need to get up. Look outside. Turn on the News."
After a while, I finally got her up and told her about what was going on.
"So we need to all enter before we get killed!" I said.
"Jacob, is this a story you're writing?" She asked. Dang it!
"No, just come on. I really want to play the game with you all, and me and Jeremy already started. Please?"
Thankfully, she agreed, and we set up a three way call with Austen. I debriefed him on the change of plans as well, except he was much heartier to agree. Thank goodness!
Finally, Acadia had set up the Server and connected to Austen's Client.
"Alright." I said, "Just deploy everything that's free to a good place that isn't blocking anything. Give Austen the pre-punched card, and drop something on top of the Cruxtruder. Ok?"
"Alright." Acadia replied. After about a minute, she responded again. "Done."
"Alright, you've pretty much done everything you need to in order to help him enter." I said to Acadia, "Austen?"
"What is this weird glowy thing?" He asked, confused.
"Oh, just throw something into it, but don't do one of your favorite books. From what I can gather, you're probably going to have to fight enemies kinda like whatever's in there."
He said alright, and I continued my instruction. "Alright, get one of those weird emerald and blue cylinders out of the Cruxtruder, and-"
"You mean one of these yellow things?" Austen asked. Huh, that's weird. Why would it be yellow?
"Yeah. Just put it into the Totem Lathe and put the pre-punched card into it as well, and when it carves it put the object into a slot thing on the Alchemizer. Alright? Smash whatever it makes appear."
"That sounds really simple." Acadia said, but before she could say anything more, I quickly interjected.
"Yeah, just remember to prototype something, alright? Mine has already helped me." I looked up from the phone to see my orb floating in front of a window. "Speaking of which, I really have to go. Good luck guys!"
"Thanks!" Austen responded. I'm so glad that they decided to listen to me. I really didn't have time for antagonism. I had some fighting to do, and people to help enter. To be perfectly honest, I felt a sense of urgency. I couldn't let everyone die. After all, we had been planning this for months! Also, they were my friends, and I wasn't going to let my friends die over something stupid like getting blown up by meteors.
"Jeremy?" I asked. He didn't respond. Shrugging, I went to the door, and was about to unlock it, when his voice came back through the speakers.
"Jacob! You would not believe this!"
Being my server player, I definitely didn't want to ignore him. "What is it?" I asked, intrigued.
"You remember that meteor that hit near my house?"
"Yeah, what about-"
"There's some weird frog ruins there now!"
"What the Heck?" I said. That seriously didn't make any sense. Then again… "Have you checked it out yet?" I asked. Then I thought it was probably a stupid question. "Never mind, we need to get you in here!"
No response.
"Jeremy?"
Still no response. I walked to the computer and took a look. Oh, it said the call had ended and he wasn't online anymore. Did he lose connection? I seriously hoped he was alright.
Regardless, I looked toward the door. There were some imps that needed a-killin. And they weren't going to do it on their own. As I walked out the door, I wondered what the reason for doing this was. To be honest, I wasn't sure. All I knew is that it made sense to do.
Besides, I needed to get a feel for the game so I could help the others. I knew I would have to be crafty, and this was dangerous, but I would escape before things got out of hand.
With a huff, I walked out into the cold air, bundled up this time, and closed the door behind me. All I was going to do was kill a few imps, see what happened, and get the heck back inside and help the others. But until then, it was time to get this adventure started.